News Brief

10/2/2011, Tishrei 4, 5772

High Court Denies Lieberman Request for Probe of Leaks

A three-judge panel of the Supreme Court denied, on Sunday, a petition by Chairman Avigdor Lieberman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party to investigate the 2008 leak of documents from 2004 in the investigation of improprieties in the party. Lieberman demanded an investigation at the time but prosecutors claimed the case had to be closed because there was no thread of evidence and the journalist who published the documents could not be investigated.

In announcing the ruling, Justice Elyakim Rubinstein said that the petition was out of date and Lieberman's loss was negligible so no costs could be applied. At the same time, he criticized the authorities for their handling of the case, explaining that it harmed the suspect's right to due process and the public's expectation of a proper, objective investigation. He called on the authorities to make an effort to avoid a repeat of such an occurence by making sure that it is not treated as routine and making the person responsible for the leak pay a personal price.